Steve Nash simply wouldn’t let the Suns falter tonight, carrying them down the stretch by answering nearly every Clippers score with a bucket of his own. The Clippers controlled this game in every sense of the word, but just couldn’t put Nash and the pesky Suns away. The fashion in which the Clippers lost was unquestionably heartbreaking, but resist the temptation to throw the baby out with the bath water. The Clippers played really well tonight, significantly better than the majority of their outings last year. Yes, chances presented themselves, particularly from the free throw line (15-27) and in the form of a few missed bunnies down the stretch, but this game felt more like Steve Nash taking over as opposed to the Clippers falling apart. Frankly, the Clippers didn’t do a whole lot wrong down the stretch – Nash was just a little bit better. Let’s take a quick glance at what went right and what went wrong tonight.

The Good

• Marcus Camby was a difference maker both offensively and defensively tonight. On defense Camby blocked shots from the weak side, dove after multiple loose balls, and disrupted passing lanes all night. His slingshot jumper from 19 was falling, and it proved useful in drawing out his man to let Baron work in the post.

• Baron Davis is still figuring out if he can trust his jumper, but his play overall tonight was outstanding. Baron’s post play began to demand double teams, and his distributing out of those coverages was top notch. There were a few moments (like the steal resulting in a three from the corner) where you could literally see Baron’s confidence growing. Defensively, Baron seemingly had his hands on everything, knocking loose a lot of balls and coming up with 5 steals on the game. Nash was perfect in the fourth quarter, but to no fault of Baron. He was in Nash’s jersey every step of the way.

• The offense has a whole hummed tonight in all facets of the game. Fans clamoring for the team to run more got their wish, as the Clippers outscored the Suns 16-2 in fast break points. The passing on the break was crisp, and the discipline by the wings in filling their lanes was outstanding. The halfcourt offense sometimes tends to stutter, but tonight Dunleavy’s post heavy game plan paid dividends, as the Clippers shot an incredible 55.8% from the field with a lot of those looks originating from the block.

The Bad

• 15 for 27 from the free throw line.  It’s a tired adage, but good teams knock ‘em down. Bad teams don’t. Don’t expect this to be a reoccurring theme however – the Clippers should normally be pretty solid from the line.

• DeAndre Jordan, zero minutes. Even though Kaman and Camby both enjoyed incredible individual games, you’d ideally like to see the young center get some playing time. The concern should be minimal here, as the healthy DNP for DeAndre should be a very rare occurrence. This does mark two straight games where Dunleavy has experimented with a small lineup to lackluster results. Against the Lakers, the Baron, Ricky Davis, Thornton, Butler and Kaman lineup struggled to mesh with each other. Tonight, it was Telfair, Rush, Thornton, Butler and Smith. This particular lineup quickly lost the first quarter lead the starters built, and Rush took the brunt of it with a -8 +/- in 3 minutes.

• The Suns bench players gave the Clippers reserves and starters trouble all night long. Dragic (+9), Clark, (+11), and Dudley (+12) provided big contributions for a Suns bench that is largely considered a question mark. The depth of this Clippers team is a strength, but tonight they were outworked handily.

The end result tonight was less than desirable, but if the Clippers can sustain the level of play seen tonight they’ll win these types of games more often than not. It’s a stretch to call this a fluky win for Phoenix, but the Suns truly were outplayed for the most part and were fortunate enough to be bailed out by some Steve Nash heroics. The Clippers next shot at redemption and first win will be Friday at Utah.

How important is a point guard?  For 35 minutes in Oakland on Wednesday night, Don Nelson actually fielded a team without one.  He simply had Stephen Jackson bring the ball up and work it to the wing.  Saturday’s Clippers-Jazz game features two teams playing without their starting point guards.  With Deron Williams out, Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight split PG duties for Utah.  The Clips start Jason Hart, but Dunleavy ultimately gives the bulk of the minutes to rookie Mike Taylor. 

The contrast is stark — not so much because Price and Knight are more capable than Hart and Taylor, but because the players on Utah’s roster don’t need a point guard to facilitate good shots.  Without Williams, the Jazz coughed the ball up all of four times.  That’s it.  Jerry Sloan’s flex offense requires a lot of its players — perfectly timed flare cuts, constant motion, smart reads on the defense, all kinds of crazy upscreens, etc.  But as much as the Utah offense depends on off-the-ball movement, it requires that each guy on the floor be able to make the pass.  What makes the current Utah squad such a tough team is its ability to do that.  Take Carlos Boozer.  At Duke?  Big man of limited skill set — so much so that he dropped to the second round.  Under Sloan’s tutelage?  An efficient cog who not only posts, but can kick, slip, and curl.  

So what about the Clippers?   It’ll be interesting to see if Mike Dunleavy’s ostensible decision to slot Taylor ahead of Hart has longterm designs or merely a response to Utah’s game plan.  Taylor enters the game with about four minutes left in the first period.  

Taylor is wiry and short…and lightning quick.  The first time he touches the ball is at [1st, 3:22] following a Utah make.  After an off-the-ball foul on Ronnie Brewer, Taylor runs a S/R with Brian Skinner.  He dribbles right of the screen, then swings the ball over to Skinner at the top of the circle.  Standard NBA play. [The ball ultimately ends up in Tim Thomas' hands, and he converts two FTs after he's fouled on a drive].  

The next time Taylor touches the rock, it’s out of a scrum beneath the Utah basket.  The ball is tipped Taylor’s way.  In under five seconds, Taylor weaves his way through Utah’s transitional defense and lays it up and in.  Taylor, when he’s on, will draw some inevitable Monte Ellis comparisons.  

In set situations, Taylor benefits from the matchup with the shorter Brevin Knight.  Though Knight strips him on one occasional and forces a couple of bad passes, Taylor is able to make crisp entries into the post — as he does to Brian Skinner to start the 2nd.  The next possession, Taylor initiates the break by zipping a pretty crosscourt pass in transition to Ricky Davis.  He flubs a bounce pass the next time the Clips are on the break, but then floats a lob into Chris Kaman deep into the post.   The next possession?  Another coast-to-coast break. 

Taylor’s ugliest offensive moment comes in the 3rd quarter out of a timeout.  The Clips are still in the game — down four about halfway through the period.   The Jazz are zoned up in a 2-3.  Taylor exchanges cross-court passes with Cuttino Mobley while Kaman struggles to set up at the elbow against Mehmet Okur.  Carlos Boozer is brutally shoving Thornton with his ass, depriving him of any space.  Thornton has a rough night and will have to learn to cope with more physical defenders in halfcourt situations.   It’s the NBA: If Al wants space off the ball, he’s going to have to work for it.  Thornton eventually drifts back to the perimeter, where Taylor feeds him.  The possession appears similar to an aforementioned one against the Lakers where the ball never actually crosses the arc.  Thornton has nothing, so he dishes the ball back to Taylor.  We’re at :11 now.   Taylor’s instinct now is a smart one — penetrate.  So he puts the ball on the floor and attacks — drawing Brewer away from Mobley.  In general, this is something the Clips have been missing for some time:  A PG who can scramble the defense with dribble-penetration.  The only problem here is that Taylor is careless with his kickout — it tips off Brewers hands and into C.J. Miles’.  Silver Lining?  Taylor rushes all the way back on the break and manages to contest Miles shot.  No good.  About eight seconds later, Taylor misses an open 3PA — but it’s a shot he’s got to take.  No demerit. 

So it’s a mixed bag for Taylor.  He finishes 5-12 from the field with four dimes and three turns.  But he demonstrates a freaky ability to go end-to-end on the break, and he’s capable of working the ball into the post.  He needs to be more selective with his long-range shot — and that need to be selective can be mitigated if he can hit a higher percentage of them.  And though Taylor will never be as protective of the rock as a Brevin Knight, he needs to be less careless.  

Sort of got off the main point here, which is that it isn’t until you watch a team like Utah or the Lakers that you realize how offensively impoverished the Clippers are.  Camby, while no scorer, will give the Clippers some flexibility because he knows how to hit a cutter and time a pass to a spot-up shooter coming off a curl.  Baron can do amazing things with the ball — but there have to be soft hands on the receiving end. So overall, the Clippers will always be prone to the 3-20 shooting slump, simply because their personnel — particularly on the wings — doesn’t have the skill set to manufacture high-percentage shots.  A speedy PG can generate a little offense, and if Baron is healthy, he’ll have nights when he carries the team, and there will be nights Kaman has it working in the post.  But unless a team has an infallible offensive option — and few teams do — they have to devise opportunities.  And for teams that don’t excel in transition, those opportunities tend to come when good passers are hitting guys who know how to fill space.  
 

Early on, the Clippers show they have the capacity to play quality basketball.  They take their first lead at [1st, 4:36] when Baron Davis throws it into the post for Chris Kaman against Birdman Andersen.  Kaman hasn’t done a lot right offensively to start the season, but when he sees Kenyon Martin slide over to help Andersen, Chris lasers a pass through the double-team to a diving Tim Thomas for an easy 2.  It’s a beautiful set, with great recognition all the way around. 

There were a bunch of satisfying things to take away from the first half.  Even after Baron left the game following a nasty fall three minutes into the 2nd quarter, the Clippers execute some smart, creative possessions.  Eric Gordon plays only two minutes, but at [2nd, 8:59], he perfectly times a baseline cut from the weakside corner to the right block [credit Mobley here with a nice cross screen].  Tim Thomas beautifully threads the needle from the arc, and Gordon gets an easy layup. 

It’s working on the other end, too.  Al Thornton — who will probably never be a super perimeter defender — reads and fights through Kenyon Martin screens to stay with Linas Kleiza [2nd, 5:59].  The Clips defend against back door cuts [i.e. 2nd, 5:08].  Mike Taylor deftly defends the S/R.  And the Clips control the glass. 

The second half, obviously, is an entirely different story. The Clippers come out of the locker room flat.  The first possession? An ill-advised PUJIT attempt from Mobley.  The Clips convert only one of their first six FGAs in the second half.   And they start to spring some leaks on the defensive end — most of it in the interior.  Nene and Kenyon Martin start getting easy looks inside of 10 feet.  Even Anthony Carter is able to weave his way to the basket in a slow-down halfcourt set at [3rd, 8:29].  Chris Kaman has improved his standing as a defender in man-to-man post situations, but he has a tendency to lose track of active big men — ironically, guys with his kind of mobility — as they roam the floor.  That’s how Nene puts together a 10-15 shooting night from the field. 

In the 4th quarter, the Clips defensive fortunes don’t improve.  At the outset of the period, J.R. Smith eats Ricky Davis alive. With Baron Davis out of the game and no Marcus Camby, the Clippers are left with only a few offensive options.  Two matchups that emerge are Tim Thomas against Kenyon Martin — which worked in the first half.  The other option, of course, is Al Thornton — first against the much slower Linas Kleiza, then later in the final minutes of regulation against the much smaller Anthony Carter.   In the first four minutes of the 4th quarter, the Clips actually extend their lead.  But after Jason Hart clanks in a 17-foot jumper at about 8:00, they don’t hit another hit another FG until 0:16.  

How come?

In order of sequence…Tim Thomas decides to drive into a double-team and has the ball swatted away as he goes up instead of kicking out; Ricky Davis fires up an off-balanced fadeaway from about 18 feet; Jason Hart drives the paint — but has his attempted layup stuffed by Dahntay Jones; TT takes on Nene one on one at the top of the key and inexplicably launches an off-balanced fadeaway shot that’s nowhere close; Chris Kaman works a high-percentage 7-foot shot on the right block against, but simply misses it; blanketed by J.R. Smith, Mobley heaves an off-balanced jumper from 18-feet that clanks off the back of the iron; his 10-foot turnaround in the post against Smith a minute later is only slightly better…

While all this is going on, Denver has converted multiple shots inside of 10 feet.  Nene continues to batter Kaman down low.  J.R. Smith finds his way to the hole, and now Allen Iverson is poised to become a factor. 

• With about 1:20 left in the game and the Clips up by a deuce — they haven’t relinquished the lead yet — Denver marches upcourt.  They run a high S/R for J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin.  The Clips wisely double Smith with Mobley and Thomas.  Smith dribbles nowhere fast, which allows Thomas to catch back up with Martin.  Good defense on what should’ve been a much cleaner S/R for Denver. Smith eventually hands off the ball to Martin in the mid-left post against Thomas.  K-Mart puts the ball on the floor with his left, lowers his right shoulder and — in his best Vince Carter fashion — powers his way to the hole right past TT for an easy lay-in.  Thomas, who, with Mobley, has defended the pick-and-roll to so well, loses the one-on-one game to a mediocre offensive player. The game is tied.
• We’re inside a minute now.  Anthony Carter is on a much bigger Thornton and everyone in the building knows the Clippers are going to work it into Al in the post.  Mobley dumps it in, but Thornton fumbles the entry pass.  He recovers, but instead of being on the edge of the lane, he’s way out on the wing.  Not good.  Thornton takes a jab step, but can’t work himself any space against the scrappy Carter.   Al becomes impatient and with a good :10 seconds left on the shot clock, he fires up a 23-footer.  No good.  Thornton shows flashes of brilliance tonight, but this is an immature possession at a crucial juncture. There wasn’t a whole lot of great stuff materializing, but Kaman had come over to give Al some space, which would’ve given him a shot closer in.  In addition, Mobley was on the perimeter with Smith a ways off him.  A little patience might have yielded a better shot.
• Denver doesn’t screw around.  It’s an iso up top for Iverson against Jason Hart.  Iverson drives right from the top of the arc, stops and pops from 10 feet.  No good.  Good ball defense from Hart.
• With about :30 seconds remaining, this time the Clips go to the left block for Thomas against Martin. Thomas patiently backs him in, turns around, and hits the 12-footer over Martin.  Clips by a pair. 
• A strange possession.  Kleiza inbounds the ball to Iverson, who gets a high screen from Nene.  Kaman picks up Iverson on the switch.  The Clips defend this very, very well.  Kaman stunts Iverson for just enough time to allow Hart to recover.  Who’s got Nene?  Tim Thomas has rotated up to make sure the big man doesn’t get an easy dive to the hoop.  Well done.   Iverson is met by Hart, so AI delivers a skip pass back to Kleiza on the far side.  Kleiza drives and is mauled  in the lane by Thornton.  Kleiza hits his two FTAs.  Game tied.  Why foul Kleiza in traffic?  
• :9.4 remaining.  The Clips go back to Thomas against Martin.  But this time, Tim seems to lose track of the clock and doesn’t start his strange rocker step-ish move until 2 seconds are on the clock. Martin manages to get a hand in and the ball squirts away as time expires.